Alice Pearce was born an only child in October of 1917 in New York City. When she was nine, while playing in a park on a swing, she lost her grip, slipping out of the swing, and painfully landing on her chin. The impact was so intense that the growth of her chin was permanently affected. Her parents turned to a variety of dentists and bone specialists but there was nothing more they could do for her. The fall from the swing would leave her with a devastating undeveloped chin. Later, when Alice graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1940, she said, “When I got to Sarah Lawrence, I looked in the mirror one day. I took inventory of myself. The most unusual thing about me was my chin and that’s when I decided to take advantage of it and become a comedienne so I studied dramatics.”
Even though Alice had a very unusual look for show business, was slight of stature, no chin, big nose, and a piercing voice, she pursued! She pursued her career, even selling bloomers in Macy’s to make ends meet. She went through summer stock and nightclubs and was wonderful at it. Later, she became quite successful in live theater and really broke through as a star in the production of On the Town. She even went on to influence a whole generation of women and other “non-beauties” who rose to stardom in television, such as Carol Burnett.
At this point, you may be wondering who we are writing about and why we are writing about her. Alice Pearce was brought to Hollywood by Gene Kelly and emerged as the beloved, nosey neighbor, Gladys Kravitz, in the television sitcom Bewitched. Alice appeared as Mrs. Kravitz for the first two seasons of the show. She was a big hit and she loved the role. What viewers did not know and what Alice kept secret was that she had already been diagnosed with terminal cancer prior to when the shooting of the show even began. She continued to keep her illness a secret to her fans although her rapid weight loss was quite evident during the second season of the sitcom. She did not want her illness to define her and “willed” herself to work. Working with Alice and to keep things going, the producers put her in a wig and that wig defined her character. In the show, the wig seemed to get bigger and bigger but it was actually Alice who was getting smaller and smaller. The wardrobe department chipped in by outfitting her with additional layers of clothing to bulk her up. Despite her illness, it was said that Alice felt triumphant for reaching her plateau as an actress. Her positive attitude, love of the production, and her role kept her going.
Sadly, Alice Pearce (alias Gladys Kravitz) died in 1966 at age 48 of ovarian cancer towards the end of the second season of Bewitched. The staff of Bewitched adored Alice and were devastated by their loss. That year, Alice won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series posthumously.
You have to smile – if you ever saw the show – when you recall this nosey and spying neighbor. Gladys was always trying to figure out why there were so many strange things going on in and around the nose-twitching Samantha and Darrin household. She was on to something despite a husband who thought she was, well, kind of nuts!
Gladys was a one-person neighborhood watch program before it was popular. And to keep us laughing, now in her name, is the Gladys Kravitz Syndrome. We see this condition in individuals who care about their communities, who nurture connections in their neighborhoods and in their world. Not only does the Gladys Kravitz Syndrome invite you to peek but it can also encourage you to do something as simple as caring for your neighbors or picking up a piece of trash to protect and respect our environment. These are people who care despite being called crazy for doing so. We believe that we need more Gladys Kravitz’s today!
When Gladys Kravitz’s name was brought up over lunch with a friend this week, we later mulled over how we could reflect on her life with any relevance because, at the time, we knew nothing about her. After exploring this, we now have the answer. The memory of Alice Pearce (Gladys Kravitz) is that of an endearing woman who pushed through pain to be and become what she wanted to be. She shared herself, not her pain, to make us smile and entertain her audiences. There are so many unspoken heroes today and maybe it is time to applaud their lives as well. If only for a minute, they made us smile and we should consider that a gift.
